Adopted a semi-feral 12 week old kitten - need tips!

Hi all, 

We just adopted what can best be described as a semi-feral kitten, the shelter/vet estimated him to be around 12 weeks old. He has been in human hands since 7 weeks, has been chipped, vaccinated etc. He has been isolated in a cage and the shelter staff has been spending time talking to him and handling him. He was born on a farm and presumably hasn't had contact with humans until he was captured with his 3 siblings. They were all in poor health and one of the sisters lost an eye. The shelter staff said that he was the one with the best chances out of the 4 kittens.

At the shelter we handled him, he was very nervous but would pur when being petted, didn't hiss but was definitely scared. On the way home he was very curious inside the carrier, looked out all the time etc - it was the same at the shelter. Curious, which we considered very positive.

We got him home yesterday and put him in a safe room, he hides but will move around the room while I'm in here, walking normally and not crawling, so I feel he is confident but extremely frightened. He is very curious to look at me but hisses and spits if I come near him. He will come out and eat about 1 meter away from me, and I got to pet him a tiny bet at one point - and then we took two steps back when he lashed out and scratched me as I was offering some wet food on a spoon, no warning, just bam. 

I frankly have no idea what to expect or evaluate how socialized he is and what his prospects are! 

Should I completely back off, spend time in the room with him and talk to him, or should I just start to pick him up in a couple of days to get him used to being handled? I have no clue!!!

Hello,

Thanks for giving this little guy a chance. He was lucky to be picked up at 7 weeks, I think you have every reason to expect him to turn into a loving, friendly cat.

As you say, he's very nervous right now. That can happen even with kittens that have been around people all their lives if they suddenly find themselves in a strange environment. It sounds as if you've already got his safe room all set up. All you need now is to take things slowly and steadily. 

Go and sit in the safe room with him as often as you can. A good thing to do is sit on the floor so you don't look so big and intimidating. Don't look at him, take a book, some sewing, your PC or whatever in there with you and let him watch you. Keep talking to him in a soft voice, reading aloud is a good way to get him used to you. If you notice him looking at your face give a slow double blink of your eyes then look away. This is telling him you're not a threat. He'll start to return the blink when he trusts you

When you feed him keep the food about a meter away from you for now, you can gradually move it closer to you as he gets more confident. (This may take a couple of days.) One thing that works really well when trying to convince nervous cats that you are their friend is Gerber's Baby Food. Look for the stuff that has no onions in it, just the plain chicken or turkey. Offer him some of that on a spoon and when he's happy accepting that from you see if he'll lick some off your finger.

With feral kittens I always wait for them to tell me they're happy to be petted. Once he's realised that you're friendly and you feed him he'll start rubbing against your legs or letting you get really close when you give him his treats.

Good luck, keep us posted on how it goes.

Thank you so much for adopting this sweet one.  Here is a link to a series of 3 videos on taming feral kittens.  It starts with the kittens rescues and progresses so keep watching.  I used these tips to help socialize a 7 month old feral.  Patience is the key.  Also working daily, numerous times daily.  Keep us posted and ask lots of questions!

http://www.urbancatleague.org/TamingVideo